by JANRAE FRANK
The sound of fear in Father Telamon's voice made Nevin pivot and put Father Telamon behind him before shoving Jun away from the bed. "Touch him again and I'll rip your bloody throat out. I'm the lad's guurmondru. If you have issues with him, bring it to me. Don't take it out on him."
Farris quailed at the naked animosity swirling about the chamber, dropping to her knees into first position, arms behind her back and head tilted. Father Telamon recovered himself, dropping instinctively to his knees and sheltering Farris in his arms.
Jun barred his fangs at Nevin. "He killed my Nolly."
"Amiri says he's innocent and I'll take her word for it – as should you."
Jun took a step toward the bed and Nevin brought his huge claws up. "Touch him and die, Jun."
The vampire met Nevin's eyes, saw the unrelenting steel in them, and reconsidered. "You're making a mistake."
"Or you are."
Jun spun on his heel and stomped out of the room.
"Bloody hell, Jun's on another tear," muttered Nevin. He eased Farris out of Father Telamon's grasp, pointing at a chair in a corner of the room and motioning with his chin for the priest to sit down there.
Father Telamon dropped into the chair as if his muscles had turned to water. "I'm sorry, Nevin. I'm not as young as I used to be ... nor as brave."
"Catch your breath, Father. I'm not about to allow something to happen to you any more than I am Stygean." Then Nevin grasped Farris' arm, urged her onto the side of the bed. He stroked Stygean's hair as if he were a disturbed cub. "Come on, lad, you need to feed and get strong again."
"What's a guurmondru?"
"Feed first and then I'll tell you, Stygean."
Stygean sighed and opened his mouth, his fangs came down, and he fastened on her. He took only a few swallows and then pushed her away. "I can't. I can't."
Nevin settled on the bed, gathering Stygean in his arms, stroking and patting, murmuring lycan comfort noises. "Long ago and faraway, I raised another sa'necari boy who was just as confused and troubled as you are."
"Who was he?"
Nevin gave him a wry smile and a wink. "Isranon."
* * * *
They had not been gone long when another knock came. This one was hesitant and uncertain, making him wonder who it might be. He ignored it despite his curiosity. The door creaked open and someone wearing soft shoes slipped inside, closing the door behind them.
"Stygean?"
He rolled his eyes. "Go away, Chinisi. If anyone catches you here, they'll kill me."
She came and sat on the corner of his bed. "I don't understand. It isn't as if I said you were trying to fuck me, which you weren't. Although I confess, Jingen made it sound like the two of you intended to try that."
Stygean groaned. "Go away, Chinisi. Please go away before you make things worse."
"Why?"
"Because I want to fuck you," Stygean snarled bluntly.
Chinisi's eyes widened and she slapped him. "You're a horrid little boy."
Stygean slapped her back. "You wanted me to be horrible a few days ago. Well I am. I've been with a dozen or more females. I haven't tried males, but I will eventually."
"You're lying. You're just a little boy."
"You know about the nibari?"
Chinisi nodded.
"They know better than to say no to a master"
"So you…."
"Yes. My master taught me different and I've learned, but I'm not a nice person."
"But you're what? Thirteen or fourteen?"
"Thirteen."
"I'm older than you are. I'm fourteen. Just turned."
"I turned thirteen six months ago."
"Not an entirely bad age gap…. So you think I'm pretty?"
Stygean licked his lips. His fangs were coming down again, but this time it was lust and not need. "Yes. Now go away."
"You aren't going to … you know… try and outrage my honor?"
Stygean had no idea what she meant by that phrase, but he felt certain that trying such a thing would get him into even worse trouble. "No! Now please go. I don't feel well and all this talking is making me tired."
Chinisi rose to go and saw the mark on his neck. "One of them bit you?"
"Yes. They took me to the edge. I'm not going to feel well for days."
"I'm sorry," she said and left.
* * * *
Jingen slipped into Stygean's room late that night and regarded him thoughtfully. "So he took you to the edge, did he? Would he notice if I took you that last little inch and you died? Or would they consider that he had miscalculated in his feeding?"
Jingen squeezed his eyes shut, looking at the verge of tears and then fighting it back. "We were going to be heroes. We were going to do our duty as true sa'necari. The price of heresy is death. That fucking renunciate is a heretic. How could you betray everything we stood for? Now you're a heretic, and the price of heresy is still death."
He rubbed his shoulder where Stygean had bitten him as it throbbed. Jingen's fangs descended and he bent over his sleeping fellow apprentice, running his tongue across them at the thought of putting them in and taking enough to still his rival's heart. Then he heard voices and footsteps in the corridor. He recognized one of them as Randilyn's – no doubt coming to check on Stygean again. His upper lip curled back in a soft snarl of resentment. "You never really were my friend. I see it now."
Jingen crouched low and slipped out to visit his mother. Once everyone had settled in, the blood-slaves had been moved from the barracks into cells beneath the mansion so that Edvarde's people would feel safer. As soon as that had been done, Jingen had suborned the jailor and was allowed to see her alone at any hour he wished. She looked tired and worn as she raised her eyes to him.
"My son," Disharyl said, taking him into her arms and holding him tight.
"You're not withering, Mother?" he asked when she let him go.
She shook her head. "My will keeps me strong. I will have my vengeance first."
"Vengeance, yes." Jingen gnawed on his lip for a moment. "I would like to have it on Stygean." Jingen opened his shirt and showed her the mark again. "He pinned me down and fed."
"Filth!"
"It was because of a girl. He knew I wanted her and took her for his own. He hurt and humiliated me in front of her."
"Human?"
"Yes, that red-haired mage."
"There are ways, but you will need to be very careful."
Jingen settled down to listen.
* * * *
Iyan, Grygg and Dahnig trailed Randilyn along the quiet corridor. Randilyn let out a long sigh. "It's late; Stygean is probably sleeping."
Grygg shook his head. "Sleeping or not, at least let us peek at him. See that he's all right and whatnot."
"I would rather that you didn't disturb him."
Iyan eyed her intently. "You're not at all like the rest of the nibari."
Randilyn paused to return his stare. "Ymraude nibari are made, not bred."
"So you're human?"
"Was human." Randilyn started walking again and the boys followed.
"Did they force you?" asked Grygg.
"They take only those who freely offer themselves. I was born and reared in Cherdon'datar two hundred years ago."
Iyan's eyes saucered. "Long-lived?"
"Plain human until I was changed." Randilyn stopped to stare down the corridor. "I think I saw someone leaving Stygean's suite. Come on, I want to check on him."
She quickened her pace and entered the suite. The light through the doorway allowed Randilyn to find the lamp on the center table. Taking a box of lucifers from her pocket, she lit the lamp and crossed to the bedroom with the boys at her heels. She turned the wick up and set it on the nightstand.
"Stygean?" She shook him. "Stygean, are you all right?"
The boy stirred, blinking sleepily. "I hurt."
Randilyn settled on the bed, cradled his shoulders against her breasts and pressed his mouth to her neck. "Drink
enough to sleep easier."
"Randi..."
"Come on, you won't get into trouble over it. Drink from me."
The boys jostled each other to get a better look as Stygean's fangs came down and sank into Randilyn's throat.
Iyan's eyes went round. "So that's what it looks like!"
Randilyn put a finger to her lips, and the boys went silent. Stygean fell asleep in Randilyn's arms only moments after feeding; he never even noticed the presence of his friends. She tucked him back into bed and they left.
Once they were again traveling down the corridor, Randilyn became aware that Iyan was watching her closely. "You have a question?"
"You looked like a mother holding her child. Your eyes were fond. My mother used to look at me like that."
"That's the greatest compliment anyone has ever given me." Randilyn's face lit up like a solstice tree. "I always wanted to be a mother."
Dahnig and Grygg exchanged curious glances, each daring the other to ask the obvious question. Grygg leaned in and whispered, "I'm in charge. You ask."
"Why can't you be a mother?" asked Dahnig.
Randilyn stopped walking and turned to face the boys, chewing her lower lip nervously. This was not a problem she could solve alone. "Ask Amiri. Maybe she'll explain it."
She backed away from them, losing all of her presence of mind as the question had hit a nerve, and fled from them. Randilyn went down the stairs and hid herself in a pocket of the stairwell. Leaning against the wall, she allowed the tears to come, whispering into the night, "Because I'm not female."
CHAPTER TEN
TROUBLE IS WHERE YOU FIND IT.
Veranoctem 19, 1077
Between Randilyn and Nevin securing extra feedings for Stygean, the boy was soon up and about again, mended by blood. A week had passed since Chinisi's irritating visit to his chambers, and so far Stygean had managed to elude both her and Jun, as well as Jingen. However, it was proving trickier by the day. He had more free time than he really knew what to do with, and everything that he could think of to do carried the risk of running into at least one of the three people he most wanted to avoid.
It seemed as if Isranon went from meeting to meeting without a moment for Stygean. So he continued going to Father Telamon for the teachings that he was not getting from Isranon. He carried a satchel hanging from his shoulder with a tablet and writing materials. Telamon had told him that he needed to become aware of nature, since life was the opposite power of his innate necromancy.
As he settled by a bush, brown and wiry with a sprinkling of snow over it, Stygean noticed a dead bird laying on the ground near the base of it. He reached out with his gifts, and the bird hopped about in a jerky semblance of life.
"Dead birds now, dead myn later, filthy little death-eater?"
Stygean flinched and his power left the bird. It lay dead once more. "Taking notes. Father Telamon said..."
Jun grabbed Stygean by the collar, dragging him up. "Little murderer. You think I've forgotten my Nolly? You killed her."
"I never touched her." Stygean squirmed in Jun's grip. He had been terrified of the big vampire ever since Jun had birched him last summer.
Jun lifted him high and shook him. "You killed her."
Stygean swallowed back the name of Nolly's killer. He could not allow himself to betray another of his kind no matter how much he hated Jingen. "I didn't. Amiri told you. It wasn't my seed in her hole."
"Let him go or I'll break it." Gordain's clawed hand closed on Jun's wrist. The lycan was at the highest and most powerful point of the hybrid state.
Jun released Stygean with a hard shove that sent the boy into a tree with a loud smack.
Darianna and Travis arrived. Darianna put a protective arm around Stygean, hairing over with her hand on her knife hilt. "We're watching you, Jun. Leave him alone." Darianna poked Travis in the shoulder. "Say something."
Travis looked uncomfortable. "See here, Jun. I don't like him either."
"Travisss!" Darianna hissed.
The captain flinched and straightened. "I don't like Stygean one bit, but taking matters into your own hands.... I mean, looking for private justice won't help matters for Isranon. Not one whit. If my old dog were still around, he'd not know which of you to bite first."
"So you're siding with the lycans then?" Jun glared at Travis.
"If'n I don't, I'll be sleeping alone for the duration." Travis grinned weakly.
Rage suffused Jun's features. With a wordless cry, he hit Travis, sending the officer sprawling. Gordain grabbed at Jun, but was knocked into a tree.
Stygean scrambled backwards to get out of the way as Darianna lunged for Jun, going deeper into her hybrid shape.
Jun bolted, but not before Darianna had swiped her claws down his back.
"Why'd he hit me? I was agreeing with him," bleated Travis.
Gordain dropped a hand on Darianna's arm. "Clean your claws. You don't want to accidentally get some of that in your mouth."
Travis stared at the blood on her claws as she dipped them into the snow to clean them. "Do lycans become vampires?"
"No," said Gordain grimly. "They become something worse; we call them dreadwolves. They live for the kill. More like werewolves than lycans. We hunt them down and destroy them."
Travis gulped. "Clean'em good, Daree."
"I always do." Daree straightened, glancing about her. "Where's Stygean?"
"Bolted in terror would be my guess." Gordain scanned the little clearing. "All that scuffling has muddled the tracks. Spread out and see if we can find a clear set."
"Shouldn't be too hard," said Darianna.
Gordain chuckled. "He might surprise you. Nevin and I have been training him like a scout. If he doesn't want to be found, he'll make it bloody hard to find him."
Stygean fled through the pines where the low branches had left bare ground amidst the snow. He spied a broken branch and snatched it up, wiping out his tracks as he darted toward the freshly swept flagstones leading around behind the stables. Once on the path, he slowed, breathing hard, and got his bearings.
A crowd of the human boys were rolling up and packing down balls and mounds of snow ahead of him. Iyan, Dahnig and Grygg lifted a large ball of snow and placed it atop an even larger ball. Dahnig spotted Stygean first.
"Yo, Styg, come help us!"
Stygean felt his fright fading as he circled them. "What are you doing?"
"Building snowmyn. All of the boys are. Some of the girls too." Dahnig pointed at the far corner of the yard. "We never got snow in Ocealay. Now that we don't have to travel through it, it's loads of fun."
Wearing a warm mink hat pulled down over her ears, Chinisi Cordwainer had let her hair hang loose. The blazing wealth waved down to her buttocks. She patted the bottom ball and then the middle, before standing back to regard it critically.
"You fancy her?" Iyan asked, following Stygean's gaze.
"She gets me into trouble."
The boys laughed and then Grygg spoke up. "Granted she's a trifle odd. Still, I wouldn't mind escorting her to the dances Jeevys has planned. She's the prettiest girl here."
"Get back onto it," urged Iyan. "Stygean, Jeevys is giving out bags of candy to the three best snowmyn. And some of it is chocolate!"
"Chocolate?" Stygean's eyes lit up at the rare and expensive treat. "Tell me what to do."
It had been ages since he had last tasted chocolate, and it made his mouth water as he rushed about at Grygg's orders in search of twigs and rocks to complete their snowmon. From time to time, Stygean would glance back and see Chinisi watching him.
Stygean carried his prizes back to his friends. They added arms and buttons and pine needles for hair. Chinisi started across the yard in their direction.
Giving a loud yelp, Stygean fled. Grygg grinned and shook his head ruefully. "We'll save him some candy if we win."
Running headlong into the pines, Stygean smacked up against something that fell with him into the snow. He pushed himself up and hi
s eyes saucered. "Oh my ... ohhh ... bloody hell. I'm sorry, Gordain. Really."
"Something chasing you, lad?" Gordain assessed Stygean as he got to his feet.
"Chinisi."
"Girl trouble, I see."
"Yessir."
"Sir is for knights. Lycans don't have them."
"Right." Stygean glanced over his shoulder to see if she was still coming, but the trees blocked his view of the yard.
Gordain extended his hand, which Stygean accepted, and the lycan helped him to his feet. "We're watching out for you. If Jun tries anything, you just run to the nearest lycan."
"I'll do that."
Gordain ruffled his hair, making Stygean smile. "Probably ought to let this old dog lie, but I've been thinking about it a lot."
Stygean gazed up into Gordain's eyes and trying to figure out where the lycan was going with that. "What did I do?"
"Nothing. That's the point. I wanted you to know that I've changed my mind about you. Also wanted to apologize for assuming you were responsible for the attack on Iyan last fall."
A twinge of hurt dug claws into Stygean, recalling how everyone, except for Isranon and Randilyn, had been quick to blame him for it. He fought to keep his voice steady. "Apology accepted."
Gordain hugged him exuberantly, lifting Stygean off his feet. "I guess this means I can now toss you into another snow drift?"
"No! No, no, no!" Stygean shrieked as Gordain hefted him into the air. He saw Chinisi standing under a tree watching them and words failed him. "I–I–"
Gordain threw him into the deep drift and the girl giggled behind her hand before walking off.
Stygean dug himself out, looking abashed.
"Come on, lad. What say we go a round in the salle? It's going to be several hours before that meeting breaks up." Gordain put his arm around Stygean's shoulder in a comradely fashion.
"I'd like that."
"Thought so."
* * * *
Isranon called a meeting as soon as Father Telamon could arrange to have a group of the refugees brought to the manor. Charas had lain on the opposite shore of the Hillora River from Isranon's line of march. So he expected that their experiences on the road would be very different. But that was not the focus of this discussion; the fall of Charas was.